In-Person Invitations Important for Recruiting Key Opinion Leaders as Speakers

Face-to-face invitations are overwhelmingly rated by surveyed companies
as the most effective way to recruit key opinion leaders (KOLs) as
speakers, according to a new study from Cutting Edge Information.

Cutting Edge Information's recent study, “Educational Speaker Programs:
Event Management and Recruitment in a Complex Regulatory Environment,”
revealed that in-person invitations from medical
science liaisons (MSLs) are the preferred method of contact compared
to other channels; in-person invitations from sales representatives
ranked second. With the advancement of communication technologies, there
remains an abundance of recruitment options. It seems, however, that
in-person recruitment remains a valuable tool for companies searching
for educational speakers.

“Having MSLs recruit speakers for an educational speaker program has
many advantages,” said Michelle Vitko, senior research analyst at
Cutting Edge Information. “In addition to having that wall between
marketing and medical
affairs teams, KOLs are more likely to respond to a liaison
invitation asking them to speak on a peer-to-peer level.”

Smaller pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, ranked in-person
invitations from sales representatives as the most effective way to
recruit KOLs into their speaker programs; larger companies prefer MSLs
to initiate contact. This disconnect in strategy is more than likely due
to group structure and company resources as smaller companies usually do
not have the capabilities to hire full-time MSLs. Under these
circumstances, smaller companies rely on their pharmaceutical
sales force to recruit KOLs for their educational speaker programs.

“Educational Speaker Programs: Event Management and Recruitment in a
Complex Regulatory Environment” (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/educational-speaker-programs/)
features detailed data on speaker program team structure, recruitment
methods, speaker training and event compensation. The research also
highlights metrics illustrating educational speaker event management
including typical attendance, average cost per attendee, and the best
times to hold events. Use this report to: